College Sports Blog

Ticket to Madison Square Garden, NIT ‘Final Four’ on the line in Baylor, Providence matchup

In tonight’s game between Baylor and Providence, the winner will get a chance to advance in the NIT tournament and play in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Which ever team wins will be in the NIT’s version of the Final Four.

This ‘Elite Eight’ game could have been a rematch of the 2012 Elite Eight matchup between the Bears and Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats won that game 82-70 en route to winning the national championship. But the No. 8 seed Robert Morris took down the defending champions and then lost in the next round to Providence.

The Friars are one of the top rebounding teams in the country (No. 38) with 37.8 boards per game. Providence is also led by junior guard Bryce Cotton who averaged 19.6 points per game and 37 percent shooting from beyond the arc during the regular season. In the two tournament games he’s combined for 45 points and seven made three pointers.

Baylor’s NIT journey has seen two different kinds of games. The Bears clobbered Long Beach State 112-66 in the opening game behind Brady Heslip’s eight three-pointers and 26 total points. It then survived its second round matchup against Arizona State by scoring 60 second half points.

The game tonight will start at 8 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN2 and WatchESPN online.

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